Back to Delkor

The Panasonic High Spec maintenance free battery lasted me bout 2 years. Considering the Standard Spec was still going on strong when I replaced it @ around 2 years I do not rate the High Spec especially considering the price premium. Possible contributions on the lack of service life could be due to me under-utilizing Sharkie or a downturn in manufacturing QC. Probably a combination of both. The Pana really died as there was 0.0% electrical juice left. No even any to work the central locking or acknowledge the remote.

Anyway NS70L sized Panas could not be found anywhere in Penang nowadays so I'm back to the Delkor. My local TCEAS is pushing GP maintenance free batteries. Picture of the Delkor packaging. The local distributor is Kai Shen Marketing Sdn. Bhd. 

In my haste to replace the batt, I forgot to weight the Delkor so can't tell you the weight but my arm muscles are still aching. Local battery prices have risen recently so the total damage was MYR 402.8 including GST (battery cost alone was RM 380). In comparison, 2 years ago I paid RM 350 for the Pana High Spec. Trade-in for a used battery (junks accepted) is RM 20. Picture below of the Delkor MF on its battery tray.

Fully installed with top securing bracket/holder. 

Bride Import Side Stay

The Bride RO seat rail is able to use adapters which Bride sell separately to install full bucket non-reclining motorsport competition seats such as the Recaro SP-G, Sparco Evo and Pro2000 and the Corbeau Pro-Series. Such seats are typically bottom side mounted versus bottom mounted for "stock/road" and "daily driving" reclining seats such as my Recaro SR4.

Those of you curious enough will ask why would I need these adapters? Well that's an upcoming and very long simmering project and blog post. Long enough to span more than two friggin years. Anyway, back to this post. Bride calls the particular adapter I need the "Import Side Stay" (Part Number: A35PNO). Bride's website states that the Import Side Stay can be used for Recaro SPG-N, Pole Position, Sparco Pro2000, etc. etc. One seat rail will need a set of four adapters. As per my Bride RO seat rails, the Import Side Stays were sourced by and purchased from Bro Eu Jin of JDM Auto Link. My cost was only RM2XX for one set (double that if you need two sets) and bear in mind the Ringgit is depreciating as I type this.

A couple weeks later this and some other goodies for my Fit arrived at my doorstep. Picture of the packaging.

The Import Side Stay in bubble wrapping.

After my crummy clumsy hands got to it.

"Manual" or more specifically installation diagram.

The Import Side Stay. Mild steel fasteners are provided and weight a ton.

The multiple hole and slots enable the Import Side Stay to cater for different seat dimensions. These adapters can accept a base seat width between 395mm to 430mm. The Import Side Stays appear to be symmetrical and are not side dependent from what I can see. Installation will tell. Stay tuned.

Work Emotion CR Kai Discontinued

I recently checked Work Wheels website and found that they had discontinued the Work Emotion CR Kai. You can find the "details" here which is where Work lists their discontinued products. Apparently production ended in 2014. The successor for the CR Kai, the CR Kiwami does not have an off the shelf listing for 114.3 4 lug/hole PCD. If I understand correctly, Work is able to supply 114.3 4 lug PCD for the CR Kiwami but @ additional cost of 6000 yen per wheel/rim. Details in screen capture below

If you want the CR Kai best you contact your suppliers now to check if there is any unsold stock left from the last production run. Good luck!

This also means the number of available off the shelf branded Jap wheel/rim choices that I am aware of for 17" 114.3 4 lug PCD is now a big fat ZERO. If you want the good stuff you will need to convert to 5 lug.

Beta Utensili Digital Vernier Caliper

A vernier scale or caliper is a device that lets you measure precisely when reading and measuring a uniformly divided straight or circular object. Given the number of  parts I have had to measure and fabricate for Sharkie I'm surprised that it took me so long to get a proper vernier caliper. A ruler and EAM (Eye-balling Aided Measurement) just doesn't cut it when measuring bushes, anti-roll bar diameters, hole or openings, etc.

I finally decided to get a proper digital vernier caliper for easy reading and measurements. Looked around locally in Penang but didn't see anything I fancy. There are probably decent stuff around but I don't have the contacts. RS Online sells Mitutoyo but these cost a bomb. Some surfing around let me to Tool-Net which is an online mail order site in the UK specializing in all sorts of tools, Decided on the Beta 1651DGT digital vernier caliper which suited my requirements. Beta Utensili or Beta Tools is an automotive hand tool manufacturer from Italy founded back in 1923 and today supplies tools to many professional motorsport teams worldwide. The 1651DGT is made from stainless steel and has a measuring range of up to 200mm with 0.01mm resolution and weights 150 grammes. Cost to me including shipping came up to 54.18 GBP.

Less than 2 weeks later the 1651DGT arrived safe and sound. Picture below of the packaging.

The very nice plastic case including test certificate.

The 1651DGT digital vernier caliper. Round white object is the battery. User manual states battery model is SR44W.

Time to start measuring and starting/continuing some projects I've been procrastinating on with the excuse I don't have a proper vernier caliper..

AIM MXS

I bet AIM has been listening to customers giving feedback that the MXG would not fit in many a dash hence they have now released the MXS. The only difference between the MXG and MXS is the size of the display. The MXS has a 5" TFT display which is smaller than my Asus Zenfone 2's 5.5" screen while the MXG has a larger 7" display. You can read up more on the MXG/MXS from AIM's website.

Picture below taken from AIM's website shows the physical size difference between the MXG and MXS. 

Technical drawing showing the MXS dimensions. 

Real life pix courtesy of Rennlist forums and TrailBrake, an official AIM Dealer in the US. 

Price is ~US$ 2299 though I see a certain Bolehland company selling in Mudah for RM 7500. The MXG "only" costs US$ 300 more. The LCD screen on my AIM MXL Strada Icon is so yesterday. 

New Gearbox Upgrade Project Part 4 - Back Home

Hello everybody. Yes I am still alive and so is Sharkie :) Here's the long awaited comeback article.

Against all odds, the upgraded gearbox internals are back home. It was actually back home a couple months back but I'm the king of procrastination remember? Porn pictures below courtesy of Bro Greg. The man saw fit to take artsy bitsy piccies :) Per Greg - "Those pieces came back so uniform and pretty, I couldn't resist using my new Sigma 105mm 2.8 1:1 macro lens" ;)

Cost not including shipping, packaging, stationeries, frustration & anger management, etc. and BST (priceless) was:

• Cryo treatment: US$ 250
• Shot peening: US$ 200
• WPC treatment: US$ 903

Add in all the associated shipping, etc. costs and the total outlay increases to MYR 7-8K depending on the US to MYR exchange rate and not including purchase of the used gearbox. Shipping costs to and from the US and within the US alone was significantly above RM 2K. The gearbox internals had to be shipped to the respective treatments all over the United States and once completed, returned to Greg who took on the role of my project manager in the US. I primarily used Fedex for international shipping as they were reliable and had the lowest pricing when I inquired. Ask around but please bear in mind that while you can save some dollars you definitely want your parts to arrive in the same exact condition you sent them.

Now all that needs to be done is to reassemble back the "new" gearbox but I can't do this yet as I am planning to use back the Nismo LSD which is in my current gearbox. I was originally planning to try a Quaife ATB LSD but went significantly over budget so have to settle for my Nismo. Also don't forget one UK Pound is now bout 6 Malaysian Ringgit. Gulp! Need to find some time to travel down to KL to do the gearbox/LSD swap job.

Vent

The whole reason I have this blog is to share my car (Nissan Sentra N16) mods and experience. It takes a lot of time, effort and not forgetting money to document and write the blog posts and I don't make a single cent out of it so I am sorry if I come across as hard and unapproachable if you contact me asking the very same questions to which I've already documented the answers in detail in my blog.

2015 Resolution

I promise to use and whip Sharkie hard at least once a week :)

2015 First Service

When your bud all the way from the US sends you an email just to tell you you are lagging (on your blog posts) you are really lagging.. :) Thanks Greg for the reminder.

Anyway here's a short post on Sharkie having its first service prior to the CNY hols. Current mileage since rebirth is way less than 10K km.

Here's the normal complement of consumables for a regular service.

I only ever use Motul Chrono 300V 10W40 and Nismo Veruspeed Oil Filter since Slowtra became Sharkie which I find to be the "best optimal" for my needs. The only downside here is cost. Two 2 litre cans of Chrono 300V will set you back in excess of RM 400 and the Veruspeed is RM 90ish depending on the yen to ringgit exchange rate. Maintaining a performance car is definitely not cheap. The positive here is that you only use about 3 litres or less of the engine oil. Make sure you keep and store the leftover unused engine oil well for your next service. Never ever reuse your used engine oil or oil filter.

Hello 2015

Before you know it yet another year has passed. Sharkie has not been a daily driver since February the past year and this is the cause of the lack of (mods) progress. In the six months between July to January 1st 2015 I've done less than 1K km :)  Blame this on a lot of other conflicting priorities and plain old procrastination. But then again the GE8 Jazz/Fit is also a very nice car to mod/play with. There are so many parts readily available for self-poisoning versus Slowtras where I practically have to start from zero and do everything myself.

I know these are just excuses and I am looking forward to 2015 as the year to reignite and get more traction on Sharkie's mod jobs. As they say, "Good things will come to those who wait". Stay tuned.